"When she came out of hiding, Tita immediatly missed the constant cooing if the doves, which had been part of her everyday life ever since she was born. This sudden silence made her feel her lonliness all the more. It was then that she really felt the loss of Pedro, Rosaura, and Roberto. She hurried up the rungs of the enormous ladder that went to the dovecote, but all she found there was the usual carpet of feathers and droppings." (page 92)
I think this moment really reinforces the loneliness in Tita's life. She has lost everyone who meant something to her; Pedro, Nacha, and now her doves. Her doves were the only things left that she could nurture and love. Her nephew had been taken away from her along with the man she was in love with. She couldn't marry or have children of her own so she displaced those instincts and feelings onto the doves. Everything has been taken away from Tita and this paragraph evoked a strong emotion. You can't help but feel terrible for Tita and the lonely life she has to live. The sparing of the one newborn pigeon is like a glimpse of hope. "From then on, her main interest lay in feeding that pathetic baby pigeon. Only then did life seem to make a little sense. It didn't compare to the satisfaction derived from nursing a human being, but in some way it was similar." (page 93) This baby pigeon gaver her something to focus on, something to shed her love on. She was substituting this baby pigeon for the child she longed to have but knew she could never.
"She made her cuts through the rind with such mathematical precision that when she was done, she could pick up the watermelon and give it a single blow against a stone, in a particular spot, and like magic the watermelon rind would open like the petals of a flower, leaving the heart intact on the table. Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying, or dominating, Mama Elena was a pro. After she died, no one ever came close to accomplishing the same feats, no one ever came close." (page 96,97)
This quote struck me because of the words used to describe Mama Elena. She was good at 'dismembering, destorying, dominating.' It gives you a good glimpse into Mama Elena's character. I also thought it was interesting that right before Mama Elena is described in this way, they are speaking about the watermelon. She was able to cut it just right so that the heart was exposed (kind of like Tita). Mama Elena knew how to destory Tita, emotionally and physically (beating her).
No comments:
Post a Comment